THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY IKEA STOUGHTON, BUT ALL IDEAS & OPINIONS ARE ENTIRELY MY OWN.

Copper + moody blue is now my favorite color combination ever.

I mean, LOOK AT THIS!!

Guys, I couldn’t possibly be happier with how this moody blue bedroom makeover is going. That blue is SO relaxing, every time I walk into the room I feel the knots in my neck unhitch just a little. Aaaahhhhh.      

If you’ve randomly landed here and don’t know what I’m raving about, let me get you caught up:

I’m transforming my new rental bedroom into a restful haven as part of the One Room Challenge six week makeover series, with the help of my friends at IKEA Stoughton. “Moody blue” is the name of the game for this room design. Check out the other ORC participants here, and catch up with my room progress right here:

Week One | Week Two | Week Three

Back to the good stuff for today — choosing the perfect shade of blue. Having only ever painted rooms white before, I did not realize this would be so difficult. I legit went through EIGHT sample cans of paint, and the poor folks at the hardware store started getting this panicked look in their eyes when they saw me walking up to the counter yet again.

Turns out blue is a tricky color to nail down. I wanted it to be modern and muted, not too dark, not preppy or nautical, and definitely not purple. A grey-blue. Sounds easy, right? Well lighting makes all the difference, my friends; what you see on the swatch is NOT how it will look in the room.

Terrible iPhone picture aside, I thought the top right blue would be the one — that’s Durango Blue by Behr. Oddly, it reads more purple in the photo than in person. But even that color was just a little too…BLUE.

After at least six different trips to various paint stores, I lost my mind just a little and decided to mix my own color.

!!!

Yes, I mixed my own wall paint color! This is a thing that is possible. IF you are willing to risk ruining a can of paint.

I gathered up various sample pots of black and grey paints from my floor painting project, took a seat on my drop cloth, and, like a deranged 19th century scientist, cackled gleefully while pouring in a little bit of this one and a touch of that one.

Thankfully, my bout of insanity was rewarded with this:

I’m hoping to show you better photos of this now-blue wall for the full reveal, these ones just don’t do it justice. But trust, in person, it is PERFECTION.

Ok, this post is already getting a little longer than I meant, so quick summary for the rest of this week’s progress:

IKEA came! Always both a good and also an exhausting day.  I assembled my ELVARLI unit! I am extremely excited about this piece. But obviously, it was blocking way too much light by the window. Let’s try again: Yes, that’s better. Clearly decluttering and decorating is next on my to-do list.

Oh and do you see the little bed on the bottom shelf? Jax kept hiding there, so I tucked in a pet bed and it’s his favorite thing ever.

And my ALGOT workspace is back! Yes, you, too can hang heavy shelves on horsehair plaster walls.

This week I’ll be getting all of the mess sorted out. Condensing your possessions from an entire apartment into one room is not an easy feat, and this room is too small to leave clutter lying around. The clock is ticking and I’m nervous about getting everything done in time, mostly because I got sick with my second bad viral bug of this year. 2018 has just not been kind so far. Wish me luck!

Back to you: have you ever had trouble picking out the exact right shade of paint? What tips helped you? Would you like to see a tutorial on how to mix your own wall paint?

THIS POST WAS MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH IKEA STOUGHTON, BUT ALL OPINIONS ARE REALLY, TRULY MY OWN! THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE BRANDS THAT ALLOW ME TO KEEP CREATING FRESH AND FREE CONTENT FOR YOU!